The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-04-20
EXPLANATIONS WHICH LEFT STILL MORE
TO BE EXPLAINED.
Neal, Letter From tallahassee PROCEEDINGS OF
the Legislature for the Week Ending Mon
day. April ia.
cor,. ,-..stne, of ne raia,la N.f,.
TALLAHASSEE. MONDAY 4

tent ana silently stole away. IN which
it referred To the recent interview he
tween EX-tsoNernors Drew and BIox-
ham. IN order To- get at the facts in the
matter. and 1" ascertain If the account
of D. interview which 80 appeared in
that paper. WAS correct one. this cor
respondent called at Gov. Drew =, room
at the ~. Jan.-S. in this city. ON Non
day, and requested linn To state tine par
ticular- of that interview. On calling
his attention to the fact that ihcr.. has
been only one side of tine matter pre-
1ented To- the public. lac stated that the
correspondent of the Times JHjoH mis-
understood the fact, relating to that in
teTview. both in his first dispatch and
the one of the following date which VA,
intended "a a correction.
viii You state which of these two
dispatches comes nearest Ia the facts"
asked the NEWS correspondent.
Il would say" said the ex-,ioveTnor.
THAT neither Is correct: at least they
only state one side of the interview.
will you give me tine facts as they
occurred:"
Certainly" said he Gov. Rloxham
called at my hotel. in company with "A
friend. and sent his card To my room. /
sent word back inviting him and his
friend up stairs. Col. William Scott was
in my room at the time, and as he started
Ia go. requested him To remain. Gov
BloNham soon came up with Mr.. Rawls.
| met the gentlemen very cordially, and
after few remarks on both sides. Gov.
Bloxham stated that he had called to see
me, as ne hoped our differences had been
settled some time ago.
'Wha reply did you make Ia this re
mark:
Il replied that | was aware that some
correspondence had passed between Mr..
&. III. Jones and himself. ar that Mr..
Jones had 50 stated To me. and that
had stated To Mr.. Jones that inasmuch
as we We're both out of politics, enter
tanned no malice towards him. and had
no objections to being on friendly terms
with him. | also stated to Gov. BloX-
ham that Mr.. Jones had told me that he
had received letter from him. in WHICH
he expressed much qualification that We
Were To resume our old friendship again,
and that he would call on me the first
time he came To jacksonville"
WHEN GOV. BLoXHAM CALLED ON HIM.
Did Gov. Bloxham call on you "a he
stated he would iii the letter received 10y
Mr.. Jones:''
Yes. nj the time of the Inauguration
Of the Clyde Line OF steamers. he was
here, and he stated to me that he called
at my office and that he heard ] was in
New York, but he met my son.
AT what time during the converse
tion was any reference made To- the SEN
atorial question:
Immediately after informing me of
the call referred to. Gov. Bloxham said:
Il understand you have come up here To
oppose me for the United States Sen
ate. replied. Yes. and will tell you
my reasons as frankly as YOU have spoken
of the matter Il would be glad Ia have
YOU do So said Gov. Bloxham."
''WilI you please state the objections
Certainly, said Gov. Drew. Il told
him nv first objection To him was on
the ground of the Disston sale; that /
had observed in the sworn testimony Of
Mr.. Swami. that he Mr.. Swami had
stated under oath that on the 2ith of
May, 1881. he te!egraphed To the Board
of Trustees that he had sold one million
acres of land at forty cents per acre.
That Mr.. Swami had also testified that
on the eth of the same month he had
met the gentlemen composing the syndi-
cate that proposed to buy the land,
and having received no reply from the
Board of Trustees. and deeming their
silence an approval he concluded the
sale. entered into written contract. and
received the first instalment of 100000,
"a earnest money on the sale. / stated
that if the sale had been endorsed it
would have been quite sufficient to have
taken up the NOse claim, and hence
there would have been no need Of max
ing the four million acre sale.
How did Gov Bloxham meet this
obiection:"
He simply said. The Board of TrIs-
tees never received the telegram from
Mr.. Swami.
THE GORDON RAILROAD CHARTER.
Il stated Ia the Governor that my
next objection was the Gordon Railroad
charter. in which Gordon wa to re-
ceive fifteen thou,a,nd acre. per mile in
excess Of the odd sections that all roads
arr entitled tn. I referred him to his
message of Jan. -, 1853, page -. in ref
erence 10 the Disston sale. in which he
said: Successive Legislatures had granted
away every acre of the swamp and over
I flowed lands To various corporations.
/ Had there been no debt. the lands were
/ already granted away. or had the Board
{ have sold one acre even for million
/ dollars and cancelied this debt, the fund
would have been no letter OF. for all
I the lands of the character sold were al
ready granted TO these corporations
: then referred him to hrs iefters 90 tscner
al Gordon in which he stated, Il have Il
say that the eight or nine millions oi
acres Of Florida lands. to which you
said company will be- entitled under il